In the course of an examination of a patient by a health care practitioner, including patients suffering from one or more diseases and/or disorders such as, for example, one or more disorders or dysfunctions of the gastrointestinal system, the health care practitioner may determine that the patient's condition may be improved by the administration of a drug, such as a drug that may prevent and/or alleviate disorders or dysfunctions of the gastrointestinal system. In connection with the health care practitioner's diagnosis of the patient, and the identification of one or more courses of treatment that may address the patient's condition, including the administration of one or more drugs, it may also be necessary to consider the potential for the course of treatment to produce undesired observed effects in the patient. For example, a drug may have desirable curative or ameliorative properties for a particular disease or disorder, and thus may be advantageously prescribed to the patient to address the patient's medical needs. However, in addition to the drug's curative or ameliorative properties, the possible observation of one or more adverse events may also be associated with the drug. These observed adverse events may occur, for example, when the drug is administered at higher doses, and/or when the drug is administered for longer periods of time. Generally speaking, there is a continuous balance that a health care practitioner seeks to achieve between administering a drug in a sufficient dosage, at sufficient frequencies, and for a sufficient length of time to obtain the desired beneficial effects, while at the same time avoiding the administration of the drug in excessive dosages, too frequently, or for too long a period of time which may result in the observation of one or more undesired adverse events.
For certain drugs, curative or ameliorative properties may be realized when they are administered to patients for shorter periods of time, while a risk of adverse events may be observed when the drug is administered for longer periods of time. Health care practitioners may be therefore faced with the difficult task of ensuring that a particular drug is administered to a patient in a hospital environment, or administered for a desired period of time as in the case, for example of short-term use, while minimizing or avoiding the administration of the drug in an undesired environment, such as outside of the hospital, or for undesired periods of time as in the case, for example, of long-term use.
To avoid the use of drugs in a manner that may elicit the undesired observation of adverse events, it is generally necessary that the health care practitioners also be educated regarding the potential for such observed adverse events. It may also be necessary to prevent health care practitioners who are not educated regarding a drug's potential to cause observed adverse events from administering the drug to patients, or from gaining access to the drug.
Accordingly, there is a need in the medical community for improved methods that provide the necessary checks and controls to ensure that drugs are administered to patients for the appropriate period of time, in the appropriate environment, and at the proper frequency and dosages. The present invention is directed to these, as well as other important ends.